The purpose of the African Women in Cinema Blog is to provide a space to discuss diverse topics relating to African women in cinema--filmmakers, actors, producers, and all film professionals. The blog is a public forum of the Centre for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema.

The short films Sur la rive (On the Shore) by Mariama Sy and Derrière les rails (Behind the tracks) by Diedhiou Khady situates the every life of the "little people" in St. Louis, Senegal and in the vicinity of the Guinaw Rail in a suburb of Dakar. Two films that highlight the self-sacrifice of ordinary citizens.

The directors Mariama Sy and Diedhiou Khady were the guests of the fourth edition of the Mois du cinema au féminin in Dakar. Their films Sur la rive and Derrière les rails, respectively, were shown at the Aula Cervantes to a young audience composed of students and those studying cinema and film. The short films share a common theme: the daily lives of the "little people" as the filmmaker Djibril Diop Mambéty would say, where bravery and self-sacrifice seem to be their hallmark. Although with a different décor, the environment in which the characters inhabit in both films is the world of fishing. While Mariama Sy shot Sur la rive in the district of Guet Ndar in Saint Louis, Senegal. Diedhiou Khady set her film Derrière les rails in the vicinity of Guinaw Rail, a suburb of Dakar, presenting the experiences of Dior Leye, a fish merchant.

The filmmakers show how these ordinary people manage their daily lives braving the obstacles that confront them from day to day. The fate of the Guets Ndariens is the shortage of fish, which has been the source of their daily earnings for generations. Though ancestral beliefs sometimes help overcome the hardships, it is not a calm life, as it is punctuated by numerous disappearances, because of an uncontrollable sea since the dike in St. Louis was breached. Even if it is not the camera’s target, the highly degraded environment is always in focus.

But the film’s most notable drawback is technical. In Sur la rive there is not sufficient lighting. Certain shots are very dark, preventing the faces of the characters to be seen. Was it the screening venue or the film itself? The latter seems more plausible, since in other shots, especially at the end of the film where the fishermen are tallying the day’s revenue, the people are also not visible. These technical problems seem to be shared between the two films. In Khady Diedhiou’s short film, in many of the shots the camera is in constant movement. Even if the names of the directors of cinematography and lighting are present in the credits, there is an absence in the images. With this film, Khady Diedhiou received the UEMOA award for the best documentary film in the last edition of Clap Ivoire in Abidjan in 2014. These are the debut films of the two directors.

Six directors from six different countries in the MENA Region discuss the project.

Right now, 12 women from Jordan, Oman, Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine and Lebanon have started recording films about their own lives for the very first time. The project aims to create a new authentic aesthetic with a new perspective - and a new user-driven way of producing personal documentaries that brings the viewer closer to real life than ever before. These films are going to constitute the first stage of a proliferation of self-directed films that presents the real lives of women all over the world.

The women have been chosen because of their impactful stories and their diverse life experiences. Their films will represent themselves and their lives. Together, the films will offer a wide range of important as well as personal testimonies from the region, sharing their way of seeing their environment through an intended low-tech expression.

With their smartphones, these first-time filmmakers document their individual experiences and reflections to present their realities to the world in a new light. The short personal documentaries will give the women an opportunity to show their world, their lives, and their attitude towards their surroundings completely uncensored.

In public discourse, many perceptions and opinions exist on what certain people are and are not able to do. In this project, women from Arab countries get to tell their own version of what they deal with in their everyday lives - and what they hope to change in future on their own terms!

The first-time filmmakers have been taught to express themselves visually through film on a need-to-know basis by six female professional filmmakers from the MENA region, who C:NTACT and the local partner MA3MAL 612 have worked with to create a method of self-expression through film. The directors and the first-time filmmakers thus enter in a unique symbiosis, where they together create a completely new genre, distanced from classic documentary and closer to personal storytelling aesthetic.

Through this user-driven aesthetic, the project aims to dissolve prejudices on a global scale. We hope that women all over the world can mirror themselves in the personal representations of the first-time filmmakers, renegotiate their prejudices - and even become inspired to tell their own stories using their own phones. In this way, the project aspires to popularise and democratise this method of filmmaking and use it as a catalyser of visualised personal storytelling of people all over the world.

The films will be screened in all the participating countries. The screenings of the films are free of charge and will be shown in different communities and societies as well as theatres and cinemas.

The project is funded by the Danish Centre for Gender, Equality and Diversity, KVINFO.

25 April 2015

Competition of short documentaries for women filmmakers and journalists

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

I. BACKGROUND

Today, the world is plunged into a series of seemingly endless conflicts. Conflicts of different directions and categories:

Political, threatening the stability of states

Social (strikes, protests, rallies for rights, frustration among the youth...)

In the household (violence against women, rape, parental irresponsibility, juvenile delinquency ...). The family, which is the nucleus of society and therefore of humanity, is in a permanent state of conflict.

While the list is far from exhaustive, approaches that are relatively effective have been developed and implemented to manage these conflicts. Mediators, conflict management experts at different levels (family, international, social) are increasingly involved. Nonetheless, women continue to be left out of roles as key players in this process. At the same time, the adoption of International Women's Day on 8 March does denotes the recognition of women and their importance in maintaining peace or finding ways to bring it about. In these cases, cinema and the arts are effective ways to raise awareness regarding these conflicts, how to manage them and the role women may play.

Recognizing this challenge, The Mis Me Binga Association, A.DAM.IC (the Association of Women of the Image of Cameroon) with the support of the Goethe Institute, and in collaboration with CINEPRESS (the Association of journalists and film critics of Cameroon) are organizing a competition of short documentary film projects. This competition is open to women filmmakers, professional journalists, and students living in Cameroon.

II. THE COMPETITION

a)Objective:

The competition aims:

To encourage women to become more involved in the process of crises and conflict resolution in society,

To celebrate women who are involved in the daily process of crises and conflict management in society,

To raise awareness of conflict, the various forms of conflict that society faces today, and furthermore, the involvement of women in conflict management.

To encourage the use of film as an advocacy tool, as it is a mass medium.

b) Theme:

The competition is launched under the theme "Empowerment of women for better management of social cohesion, crises and conflicts."

c) Terms of reference:

The terms of reference of the competition are:

Stability of the country

Social cohesion

Household management

Management of unresolved situations

War and political stability.

d) Films:

The candidates will make a film (fiction, documentary or reportage) for a period of 3, 6, 13 minutes. Each selected project is developed under the supervision of an internationally recognized Cameroonian professional. A complete shooting kit and crew are made available to the team for each project selected by the partnering associations. The films produced are the property of MIS ME BINGA.

The films may be in French or English and must be subtitled in one language or the other depending on the language of the shooting.

Films must be submitted in two (02) copies on DVD.

e) Dates:

Film projects must be deposited at the Goethe-Institut in a sealed envelope marked 'Binga Talent 2015 on 30 May 2015 midnight at the latest. Each project must be accompanied by a completed registration form to the following address: bingatalent@gmail.com or submitted at the reception desk of the Goethe-Institut located at Bastos (Public School).

Candidates residing outside of the city of Yaoundé may send their film by post to: 1077 rue Mballa Eloumden BP 1067 Goethe Kamerun Institut.

f) Awards:

The winner of the competition will receive a sum of 100,000 CFA francs.

For more information, please contact us at the following addresses and telephone numbers:

Contact:

Concurs Binga Talent 2015

1077, Rue Joseph Mballa Eloumdem

S/c Goethe-Institut, BP: 1067 Bastos

Yaoundé-Cameroon

Email: bingatalent@gmail.com

Telephone: 677 729 078 / 696 377 057 / 679 908 502

REGISTRATION FORM

Name:

First name:

Date of Birth:

Nationality:

Passport / ID Number:

Full postal address:

Phone:

E-mail:

Title of the project:

Genre:

Synopsis:

Duration:

Country:

Organisation:

I hereby declare to be the rights holder of the project submitted:

I hereby declare to have read, accept and comply with the rules and regulations regarding the competition.EN FRANÇAIS

23 April 2015

The International Pan African Film Festival of Cannes and its salon (29 April – 3 May 2015) are an exhibition platform for cinema and its related fields, the arts, and a range of expertise, as well as innovation, culture (music, photo, beauty, fashion show, books...) and the festival events.

The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo explores the artistic contribution of one of Africa’s foremost women writers. Director Badoe charts Aidoo’s creative journey over seven decades, from colonial Ghana, through the tumultuous era of independence, to a more sober present day Africa.

Carey McKenzie, South Africa

Cold Harbour, 2014, 73min.

While investigating a smugglers’ turf war in Cape Town, township cop Sizwe stumbles upon police corruption. His boss and mentor, Venske, gives Sizwe the case but assigns a rookie, Legama, to keep an eye on him. After Sizwe discovers that a homicide is linked to Triad (Chinese mafia) through abalone smuggling, a tip from a former comrade leads to a major bust. Despite the seized contraband being stolen within hours, Sizwe is still promoted to detective. It’s a bitter triumph though—he’s being played, and he knows it. In a world where self-interest and corruption have overtaken loyalty and honor, Sizwe is left with no one to trust and integrity demands that he take the law into his own hands.

During Sierra Leone’s civil war, rebels amputated countless limbs. Most of the victims are orphans and outcasts in a society that has yet to face its past. For some of them, only the amputee soccer league offers a chance at a better life.

Across the city of Cape Town, a sex-line operator, a dog handler, and an IT technician begin to suspect that their romantic relationships are the subject of a bizarre conspiracy, involving their friends, family, and possibly even greater forces. Love the One You Love’s parallel stories question the ideals we hold too sacred: love, happiness, and the New South Africa.

Mossane (Magou Seck), a beautiful 14-year-old girl from a rural Senegalese village, is the object of affection to many, including Fara, a poor university student—and even her own brother, Ngor. Although she has long been promised as a bride to the wealthy Diogaye, Mossane falls in love with Fara and on her wedding day, she defies her parents’ wishes and refuses to go through with it.

Aïcha, a young orphan, is found alone in the forests of central Morocco, after being taken from her home and sold to a petty criminal. Soon after escaping, she crosses paths with Zacaria, a Moroccan/Iraqi writer, who has left everything behind—including a passionate relationship with a teacher, Judith—to search for his missing brother. The trio’s intersecting journeys lead audiences across Morocco, to Istanbul, the plains of Kurdistan, and beyond.

Key areas of expression, today’s social and internet networks have become an outlet through which the most racist, homophobic, and sexist ideas are expressed.

Celine Gilbert, Tanzania

Surrender, 2000, 30min.

In the tranquil setting of a small fishing community in the East Coast of Zanzibar, a fire is raging in the hearts of three young individuals and the entire community feels the heat. Surrender is a story about Amri, a man trapped between the traditional role of the family man his father expects him to fulfill, and his personal desire for Mashua, a local fisherman.

Eliciana Nascimento, Brazil

The Summer of Gods, 2014, 20min.

A young girl named Lili connects with her Afro-Brazilian religious heritage on a summer visit with family to their ancestral village in rural Brazil. During her stay, she encounters orishas (African gods) who help her find peace with a gift that had previously vexed her.

Bus Nut rearticulates the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, a political and social protest against U.S. racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama, and its relationship to an educational video on school-bus safety. Actress MaameYaa Boafo restages a vintage video while reciting press-conference audio of Rosa Parks on a re-created set in New York City.

Set in the Belgian Congo in the 1950s, Sister Oyo tells the story of Godelive, a schoolgirl at the Catholic boarding school Mbanza-Mboma, the premier French-language school for Congolese girls. She is to be westernized, following the will of her parents, but the memory of her grandmother intervenes…

Muzna Almusafer, United Arab Emirates/France

Cholo, 2014, 21min.

The dark-skinned 11-year-old Cholo meets his fair-skinned younger stepbrother Abdullah for the first time. Although strikingly different, the two boys enjoy a crackling chemistry.

Libby Dougherty, South Africa

Panic Button, 2014, 25min.

From the moment that Tshepo, a security guard, breaks through Jenny’s multi-locked door to save her, she feels as if she’s been swept off her feet. But as Jenny imagines herself falling in love with him, an unhealthy, delusional obsession begins to take shape.

Eka Christa Assam, Cameroon

Beleh, 2013, 26min.

Set in a small village at the foot of Mount Fako in Cameroon, Beleh examines the relationship between Ekema and his heavily pregnant wife, Joffi. The difficulty she faces in her first pregnancy is made worse by the petulant and selfish demands of her irate and uncompromising husband. Things come to a head when one morning, the situation mysteriously changes in the village and there’s a total role reversal between the sexes. Ekema (who’s the only one who seems to be aware of the change) gets to experience a day as a pregnant man and his experiences throw a whole new light on his view of Joffi’s feelings.

Lovinsa Kavuma, Zanzibar / Tanzania

Curse of an Addict, 2013, 25min.

In Zanzibar, Seif, a 28-year-old heroin addict believes he is cursed. In a battle to be free from a life where he contracted HIV, Seif seeks help from a Shiek. In a spiritual exorcism, the curse from his past is conjured up. Having confronted his demons, only time will tell whether Seif can lead a clean life as a true Muslim.

When her mom gets sick, Kibibi’s dad must take her to the market to get her hair braided before school begins. Soko Sonko is a hilarious, fish-out-of-water roller-coaster of a journey, about a well-intended dad who goes where no man has gone before… because only women have been there.

Kaouther Ben Hania, Tunisia/France

Wooden Hands, 2013, 23min.

Five-year-old Amira lives with her mother in a small apartment in Tunis. On the day that she’s supposed to return to the Koranic school, Amira was dearly wishing to enjoy the few remaining hours of her holiday. She managed to find nothing better to do than to attach her hand to the chair with super glue…